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Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press
Rick Goldsmith | USA | 1996 | 110 min. | documentary video

This award-winning examination of censorship and suppression in the America press profiles pioneering press critic George Seldes. Seldes was a noted foreign correspondent in World War I and in the 1920s in Europe. Fiercely independent, he was threatened with a court-martial by General Pershing, censored by the Bolsheviks and expelled by the Italian Fascists in 1925, barely escaping with his life. Seldes became a press critic in the 1930s. His books criticized the "Lords of the Press" and the big money that distorted and colored the news. In 1940, he started his own investigative weekly, In Fact: An Antidote for Falsehoods in the Daily Press, which pioneered modern American press criticism.

Seldes became a pariah in his own profession, ostracized and marginalized by the mainstream press. But he profoundly influenced three generations of journalists and activists, including I.F. Stone, editor of The Nation Victor Navasky, and Ralph Nader. At age 98, Seldes is the centerpiece of the film. He is joined by Ben Bagdikian, columnist Nat Hentoff, Jeff Cohen of the media-watchdog group "Fair," Marian Seldes and several others.

Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking, The Client, Thelma & Louise) narrates the film and Ed Asner (JFK, Roots, Lou Grant) provides dramatic readings of Seldes' written words from Seldes' many books, letters, magazine and newspaper articles.

PRODUCED, DIRECTED AND EDITED BY: Rick Goldsmith
NARRATED BY: Susan Sarandon
VOICE OF SELDES' WRITING: Edward Asner
WRITTEN BY: Sharon Wood & Rick Goldsmith
ORIGINAL MUSIC: Jon Herbst
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Stephen Lighthill, Will Parrinello, Witt Monts, Vic Losick
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Bill Jersey

Original language is English

New York Premiere, 1996 Human Rights Watch Festival. Distributed by Rick Goldsmith, 2600 Tenth Street, #104, Berkeley, CA 94710, Tel: (510) 849-3225 Fax: (510) 649-9301.

Rick Goldsmith
Director Rick Goldsmith produced, directed and edited the award-winning short documentary Anatomy of a Mural. The film won "Best Short Film" at the Hemisfilm International Film Festival in San Antonio and awards at six other festivals. It was cablecast nationwide on The Learning Channel and broadcast on KQED-TV (PBS) in San Francisco.

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